The Blood Age
by AmaHoshi
Summary: He was at the top, the one to be protected. She tumbles into his life, his world, and his time. As she draws nearer to the mystery veiled beneath his dark, crimson eyes, she finds herself in a new age: The Blood Age. This is a repost of a story that I started under a different account, but lost the password to.
1. Prologue

Hiii~ Nice to meet you all :D I'm Shi, or Ama~ This is not my first time writing a fanfiction, but it is the first time I'm publishing something in like three years, haha.

I hope you guys enjoy this story and review!

(This is a repost of a story from my previous account, BemusedDawn)

**Prologue**

_Clink_

The small noise went unnoticed by most, but the sharp ears of a certain brunette perked up as she turned to her left, wondering if someone's cell phone had rang. Perhaps it was a text message of some sort. She chuckled silently, amused by this small, seemingly non-important detail that reminded her of the likelihood that her phone would also go off, as she had also forgotten to set it to silent. Switching the glass of water to her right hand, she dug through her purse with her free hand trying to find her phone. Too engrossed with the task of digging through her seemingly bottomless purse, she failed to notice the person walking towards her way with a slight glint in his narrow, green eyes.

_Bump_

She looked up in surprise as she felt the slight impact against her left hand. Her glass slipped from her hand as if in slow motion and she watched it come in contact with the ground, the water slowly soaking into the carpet until all that was left was the broken shards of her former glass laying on a splotch of wet carpet. A slight pinching pain jolted her back to reality and she instinctively brought her left hand up to her chest, rubbing the pain away with her right hand. She turned around, watching the figure that bumped into her and left without saying anything. _Rude much?_ She thought as she glared at his back with a childish pout. The figure turned around and stared right into her eyes for a few seconds. Feeling slightly off-put, she unconsciously stepped back a little. Her eyes widened as a slightly eerie, psychotic grin formed on his face. Before she could do anything however, he gave her a look-over and then turned around, disappearing into the crowd. The brunette was left standing there, blinking as she wondered if everything that had just happened was merely a figment of her over-creative imagination.

A dry wind blew across the terrain. It was hot, dusty, with the temperature continuously rising every second. A cloaked man in black stood in the middle of the dessert, his body slack with indifference as he looked at the landscape around him with a non-caring sweep of the eye. He slowly turned around and started walking towards a large tower that seemed to blend in with the scenery. When he reached the entrance of the building, the doors creaked open for him, welcoming him inside. Around him, he could hear the busy bustle of people running around minding to their own business. As they pass him, their heads drop down in a bow of respect, a gesture he barely paid any mind to. Reaching his destination, he shoves the door open, causing the two occupants to turn to him. He nodded briefly, seating himself onto the chair at the very back of the room. He nodded once again, silently telling them to go on with their reports. The second figure stepped up, his eyes flashing slightly as he began his report.

"Our supply is running low, sir. We have enough for three months at most, and most of the animals in the vicinity have already been taken in. The next birth season won't be for another four, I'm afraid we'll have to start 'The Hunt' again."

He stepped back into his original spot, waiting for the person at the front to respond. Dark crimson eyes bore directly into his, a stare that he returned directly. He felt himself relaxing just a little in relief when the crimson gaze focused on the person next to him instead. His eyes, however, filled with a slight maniac glint as his green eyes bore into the sight of the gold, intricately ornate chair currently occupied by someone else.

_Soon, that seat will belong to me._

To be continued...

How was it? :D Good? Bad? Decent? Do you want a new chapter? Review and let me know your thoughts! :)

Side note: This is a Gakuen Alice fanfiction that was inspired by my original plot idea. This idea, I believe, is **completely original** so I would appreciate it if none of you tried to pass this idea off as your own. Please understand that it's an idea I am very proud of, and I plan on writing the best story I can with it. So please do not crush my hard work, thank you!


	2. The Assignment

Chapter 1: The Assignment

A busy bustle filled the air. People ran about, minding their own business while finishing any tasks assigned diligently. Amidst this busy atmosphere, a single brunette sat listlessly. She was _bored_. Everyone had something to do, but for some unknown reason; she was the only with _nothing_ to do. While most people loved not doing anything, Sakura Mikan hated being useless. And right now, in this situation, she was the exact definition of what she hated most. She tried finding something to do, anything. She asked her colleagues if they needed anything, but they just simply glared and waved her away. It was too busy of a day to explain what needed to be done; it was much more efficient and faster to just finish it themselves.

_Bam!_ She smacked her hands on the desk, letting out a loud groan of frustration. She wanted to do something, anything! Before she knew it, something hit her head and subsequently fell onto the ground. She looked up in confusion. A familiar blonde looked back at her with raised eyebrows. Mikan answered with a scowl on her face, nursing the small, red bump that appeared on her head as a result of corporate violence.

"You know, just because you're my superior doesn't mean you can use violence whenever you feel like it," huffed Mikan as she bent over to pick up the files that her boss had thrown at her. The blonde simply shook his head, smiling lightly as he walked away. Mikan glared at the receding back, resisting the urge to childishly stick her tongue out. Her boss was not natural. He seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, and always knew what Mikan was up to. It was… slightly unsettling.

"Stop staring at me and get to work."

Mikan widened her eyes, startled out of her daze. _I knew it! He's not natural!_ She confirmed in her mind and she looked down at her next assignment. With her focus heavily on the information in front of her, she missed the turning back of her boss as he stared at her, eyes filled with a mournful, sad look.

_I wish there was another way. A way that I could protect and keep you safe. _He bit his lips and clenched his fists, resisting the urge to run over and rip the files out of her hand; to tell her that it was all just a joke. Mustering all his determination, he ripped his gaze away and ignored the clenching of his heart as he walked away from the brunette.

_I'm sorry, but you're the only one that can help him now._

――之は何～？――

"Ahh! Wait! Don't leave!" Clacking sounds echoed throughout the busy train station, and soon a slightly panting brunette stepped onto the train platform. She dashed across the yellow line and into the closing doors, eyes closed and braced for impact. When she felt solid ground on her feet, and not in her face, she deduced it was safe to open her eyes. Smiling sheepishly at the people who stared due to her causing a commotion, she quickly sought a seat out on the train and proceeded to look over her assignment again.

It was pretty rare for her boss to assign her a solo assignment. In fact, it had never happened before. For some reason, the blonde was strangely protective of her. All assignments she covered were usually directly under his supervision, or with one of his trusted aides. So when she read the assignment and saw that it was a solo venture, she was filled with giddiness. She finally graduated from apprentice level! An image of her boss in a witch's costume holding a broom popped into her mind and she had to bite the inside of her lip to keep from bursting out into laughter.

_Ruka as a witch! That should be his next Halloween costume, haha!_

The doors to the train opened, and the female announcer crisply announced the destination, which just so happened to be the one she needed. She stepped onto the platform with a bounce, smiling happily as she walked towards her destination, a newly found plot of ruins.

Sakura Mikan considered herself an extremely lucky woman. Right after graduating with her BA in History and Archaeology, she managed to catch the eye of her current boss during an interview It was by chance that he decided to attend the interview process, and also by chance that she happened to have a spare pen when he needed one. Now, not even three months after being with the company, she received a chance to explore a patch of ruins no one else in the company had before. She did not know which heavenly deity was smiling at her from above, but she hoped and wished with every fiber of her being that they would not stop anytime soon.

The minute she stepped into the ruins, she felt her heart pounding with excitement. The fresh smell of dirt, the slightly musty smell of the places that sunlight had not reached in years, the cobwebs hanging from the corners; they were all her favorite things in the world. This sense of excitement and wonder was what convinced her to pursue a degree in History and Archaeology despite the vehement disagreements from her peers and family alike. She admitted that young woman rarely went into this line of work, but Sakura Mikan was anything but normal. She knew that much already. At the very least, her clumsiness level was anything but normal…

"Ouch!" Her foot tripped over a loose piece of rock and she stumbled head-first into the ground. "Bleck!" She spit out a mouthful of dirt, brushing off the soot that clung to her face. "Why am I so—Oh my god…" Her complaints left her mind immediately as she set sight on what laid in front of her, covered in years' worth of dirt. Hastily scrambling for a handkerchief in her backpack to wipe off the dirt, she knocked her water bottle onto the ground. Her mind focused on the sight in front of her, she barely paid it any mind. When she finally wiped off the dirt, she could not keep herself from smiling widely. Her heart thumped so loudly with excitement and glee that she was sure everyone in a 50-mile vicinity could hear her.

She fumbled in her backpack once again, grabbing her camera and proceeded to snap several pictures of the stone slab in front of her. It was something she had never seen before, covered in writing that looked so similar to what they used in modern society. Yet, the writing was completely incomprehensible to her. It was the decorative border around the words that first caught her attention and sent her heart into a wild dance. It was beautiful, amazing, and nothing like what she had ever seen before.

The border itself comprised of several small characters, weaved into the pattern of a border. Mikan was positive that it was a code. And from what she could see, it was a beautiful, clever, and complex code. Without knowing where the border started, it was impossible to know what it read. Mikan smirked, _but decoding is what I do best._

As she stepped back to take more pictures from different angles, she stepped onto her water bottle that she dropped previously before. The water bottle grinded into the small rocks beneath it, cracking from the pressure exerted from both sides. A trickle of water streamed towards the stone slab, and Mikan watched on as the small, man-made river flowed down towards the slab with the help of gravity. Gravity had always fascinated her, and if history had not won her heart when it did, Mikan was sure that she might have turned towards physics as her major. She shook the thoughts away, and bent down to pick the bottle up, setting it on a large rock nearby so it did not interfere with her work anymore. Turning back to snap more pictures, she saw the water finally reach the stab.

A sizzling noise caught her attention, and she furrowed her eyebrows. _What…? _The water was… evaporating? She watched in rapt fascination as the water seemingly vanished with a loud hiss when it reached the stone slab. When the last of the water finally disappeared, and nothing else out of the ordinary seemed to happen, she walked towards the slab, confused. Was that simply a figment of her imagination?

_There was definitely water here just a little bit ago. _She reassured herself as she bent down to investigate the sab further, hesitant to touch it for fear of what would happen. But the stone was cool to the touch, just like she would expect it to be from years of dwelling without sunlight.

_Thunk_

A noise from behind her caused her to turn, but nothing was there. "I must be going crazy," she muttered as she sat down on the ground, "nothing is there but I keep hearing things."

Then, she felt it. It started slow, almost unnoticeable. But it was definitely there. She could feel the slight vibrations.

The ground was shaking.

Mikan hastily stood up, running for the entrance. The shaking increased in intensity, until she could no longer stand properly, collapsing on the ground. She was terrified. Her heart was beating furiously, but this time from sheer fear. Everything was so abnormal. This was not supposed to happen on her first assignment. Her _first_ solo assignment of all things. She squeezed her eyes tightly, biting her lips. She wished for everything to stop. For everything to go back to normal. Her hands clenched together so tightly until it drew blood. The shaking only got louder and harder.

And for the first time in her life, Mikan started to regret becoming a historian.

――之は何～？――

He had felt the burning sensation on his arms before he felt the vibrations in the ground. He looked down at the characters engraved into his arms, ignoring the small earthquake that was currently happening. He swiveled his chair so that it faced the window, and looked in the direction that he had sent his newest employee just a couple hours ago.

_Please Mikan, help him. _

――之は何～？――

Her eyes opened, but immediately closed tightly when a sharp burst of light hit her sight. "Ouch." It _hurt_. Actually, now that she thought about it, her entire body seemed to be in a dull pain. _Wait, that was light…_

"What is going on…?" She muttered to herself as she slowly opened her eyes again, gingerly sitting up. She blinked. Once. Twice.

This was not where she was before. She had been underground, in a place where light hardly ever shined. Yet now she found herself in what seemed to be a dessert, with no one around.

"Can someone please tell me what the heck is going on here!?" She screamed in frustration, only to further furrow her brows when the only answer came in the form of an echo. _Why is it that I always seem to find myself in these situations?_ She asked herself as she stood up, looking around. Well, at least her backpack still seemed to be intact. She picked up the now dusty bag and brushed it off a bit, slinging it over her should.

"Well… where should I go now?" She asked herself silently, wondering exactly what was happening. This entire situation just seemed impossible. She barely made a few steps when she heard light footsteps coming from behind her. Her eyes lit up as she whirled around, overjoyed that she was not alone. However, she could not help but falter when she saw the person in front of her, who was currently analyzing her it seemed.

Mikan found herself to be a good judge of person. But when a stranger shrouded in a blood-red cloak appears, how do you know if they can be trusted?

_Who the heck wears a cloak nowadays!?_

_TBC._

* * *

Hello~ If you guys have read this story before, it is a repost-ish since I stopped using my other account (I lost my password…) But anyways, I felt like updating, so here you guys are! The plot may seem slow, but it is definitely developing. Stay tuned, and tell me your thoughts!

Ama~


End file.
